“Productivity in Linguistics (Productivity in Morphology as a Sample)”

Abstract

The current paper is an attempt to shed light on and analyse one of the important concepts of the modern linguistic researches that is productivity and its broad field in linguistics in general and in morphology in particular. The paper relies on Chomsky’s theory of productivity as an important theory in this field since it is crystal clear to linguists that language is an important means of communication, which is active and productive and plays a paramount role in creating communications and exchanging ideas among the human beings. Undoubtedly, language has suitability and flexibility to create communications and understandings among human beings as Chomsky states that with a finite (limited) number of rules and structures, an infinite (unlimited) number of sentences and utterances can be produced. From this perspective, it can be stated that productivity and creativity are important characteristics of a language in which they differentiate human being’s language from animals’ language and other means of communication.

In addition, the paper works on identifying the concepts of productivity and its points of difference with creativity. It focuses on morphological productivity, hindrances of morphology and grades of morphological productivity. It also presents examples from both languages, English and Kurdish.